Chapter 121: The Ancient Corpse in the Desolate Village

As the game’s voice began to play, that sensation of time and space slipping out of alignment returned. It was as though a layer of mist had descended over Su Cheng’s eyes.

When he came to himself, the scene before him had changed abruptly. Spread out before his eyes was a Japanese rural landscape.

Dusk was settling over the western sky. Su Cheng realized that he was standing in the middle of a country lane. Looking ahead, he saw a village shrouded in a listless gloom, filling him with an ominous premonition.

“This village has the perfect atmosphere for one of those haunted abandoned-village horror movies.”

Su Cheng noticed that he was wearing the kind of police uniform commonly seen in television dramas. It seemed that, this time, he was playing the role of a police officer.

Just then, a figure suddenly flashed past behind him.

The instant he detected the movement, Su Cheng spun around and drew his blade, his movements flowing as one. He slashed at the figure that had appeared behind him.

The cold edge of the blade pressed against snow-white skin. Su Cheng’s gaze fell upon the face of an exceptionally striking female police officer standing behind him, and his expression changed at once. The killing intent surrounding him receded slightly.

“Don’t get excited. It’s me.”

The policewoman had been startled by Su Cheng’s reaction, and a trace of cold sweat appeared on her smooth forehead. Her mental composure, however, was excellent, and she quickly calmed down.

Who are you, beautiful lady?

Su Cheng carefully examined the policewoman. She seemed to know him—or rather, the police officer he was playing in this instance.

“Sorry. I overreacted a little.”

Su Cheng gave an awkward yet polite smile and sheathed his long blade.

Seeing him put the weapon away, Saki Shiratori immediately breathed a sigh of relief. A hint of displeasure appeared on her face.

“Officer Ito, that blade of yours surely doesn’t count as standard police equipment. If headquarters finds out you’re carrying a weapon like that without authorization, you’ll be in serious trouble.”

Ito?

At the sound of that surname, Cheng-bro wore an expression of utter exasperation.

As for violating police regulations, he would be leaving this instance as soon as he completed the mission anyway. Whatever blame there was to bear, the unfortunate real Officer Ito could shoulder it when the time came.

“We should talk about the case first. This village gives me a strange feeling. There might be some major incident here.”

Su Cheng hurriedly changed the subject and steered the conversation toward the case.

After he finished speaking, however, he noticed Saki Shiratori looking at him strangely, as though he had said something wrong.

“The police station received a call from an old man in the village saying that his cat had gone missing. How serious could that be? We’re only stopping by while we’re in the area. We’ll be heading back shortly.”

Su Cheng was utterly dumbfounded.

He had assumed that a murder or some supernatural incident had taken place in the village. After all that, it turned out to be nothing more than a missing cat?

This wasn’t how the script was supposed to go, Director.

What Su Cheng did not know was that the Officer Ito he was portraying was merely a rookie who had just graduated from the police academy. He normally dealt with trivial matters, and if there really was a murder case, it would never be his turn to investigate it.

Following the silent country road, the two soon found the home of the old man who had reported the incident.

It was a traditional two-story Japanese house. Two tall cherry trees stood in front of the entrance. Since it was not yet cherry-blossom season, the trees looked lifeless, radiating an air of deathly stillness.

They rang the doorbell, and before long, a stooped old man came out to open the door.

“Grandpa, were you the one who reported that your cat had gone missing?” Saki Shiratori asked politely.

The old man looked Su Cheng and Saki Shiratori over, then nodded grimly.

“Come in.”

The old man lived alone and seemed rather eccentric. Saki Shiratori paid it no mind. She smiled, removed her shoes at the entrance, changed into a pair of comfortable slippers, and walked inside.

“Be careful. This place gives me a very bad feeling.”

Su Cheng seemed to have sensed something. He gently tugged at the hem of Saki Shiratori’s clothes and quietly spoke into her ear.

“There’s only that old man living here. What could possibly happen? Are you feeling unwell, Ito? Why are you acting so jumpy?”

Saki Shiratori gave him a puzzled look. Could men have periods too?

“In any case, we should be careful.”

The moment Su Cheng entered the house, he caught a faint whiff of the smell of a corpse drifting through the air.

The odor was extremely light. If his body had not been enhanced, giving him a sense of smell far beyond that of an ordinary person, he might not have noticed it at all.

“Got it.”

Saki Shiratori paid no attention to his warning and followed the old man into the house.

As Su Cheng stepped inside, the sinister, terrifying voice of the game rang out in his mind.

“One day in December, two police officers entered an abandoned village while investigating the disappearance of a pet. However, they failed to realize that something truly horrifying was about to happen to them…”

The instant the game’s narration began, Su Cheng noticed that the sky outside had darkened abruptly. It was as if a black curtain had descended over the desolate village. An all-pervading terror seeped inch by inch into his flesh and marrow like a bone-chilling wind.

Saki Shiratori suddenly sneezed.

“Scenario initiated. Investigate the supernatural phenomena occurring in the village and uncover the truth.”

Su Cheng’s gaze darkened. Just as he had expected, there was indeed something wrong with this village. Unfortunately, he had too few clues at present and could only wait and observe.

In a high-risk supernatural instance like this, acting rashly could easily trigger an unavoidable death event. If that happened, he would be finished.

In the tatami-floored living room, Saki Shiratori pulled a small notebook from her pocket and asked seriously, “Grandpa, do you remember when your cat went missing?”

The old man acted as though he had not heard her. Without a word, he turned and left the living room.

A few minutes later, he returned carrying two bowls of red soup. He placed them in front of Su Cheng and Saki Shiratori, pointed at them, and said tersely:

“Eat.”

No one knew what ingredients had gone into the suspicious red soup. It was extremely thick and gave off a fishy, sweet smell.

Su Cheng stirred his bowl several times with a spoon and scooped up several chunks of meat from some unknown animal.

“Sorry, but we ate before coming here. We’ll pass on the soup.”

Saki Shiratori had also sensed that something was wrong and waved her hands, politely declining the old man’s offer.

The old man’s eyes widened as though he had become furious. He pointed at the two bowls of red soup before them and spat out a single cold word.

“Eat!”

Seeing that the old man stubbornly insisted they drink the soup, Saki Shiratori gave a bitter smile. She picked up her spoon, scooped up a mouthful, and obediently swallowed some of the thick liquid.

After a moment’s thought, Su Cheng also drank a mouthful of the red soup before him.

Strangely, the thick liquid spread through his throat like strong liquor, driving away the faint chill in his body. The spiritual energy and stamina he had expended in the previous instance returned to him.

“This soup tastes wonderful.”

Saki Shiratori had initially assumed that the soup had been made from some strange ingredients, but its flavor was unexpectedly excellent. Moreover, after drinking it, her whole body grew hot and a thin sheen of sweat formed on her skin. The chill in her heart seemed to vanish completely.

She wanted to take another sip, but the old man had already removed the bowl from in front of her.

After the old man left, Saki Shiratori wandered around the living room. Suddenly, she let out a terrified cry.

“Ito, come look at this!”

Fear and disbelief appeared on Saki Shiratori’s face as she held out the object in her hands for Su Cheng to see.

It was a black-and-white funeral portrait.

What she could not believe was that the person in the portrait was the very old man who had just served them soup.

At the bottom of the portrait was the date of the deceased’s death. It had been half a year earlier.

In other words, the owner of this house had been dead for nearly six months.

“Ito, do you think ghosts really exist in this world?”

Saki Shiratori seemed genuinely frightened, her face pale as she spoke.

Meow!

Suddenly, a cat’s cry rang out beside Su Cheng and Saki Shiratori.

The scene before them shifted.

The once clean and tidy house was suddenly covered in dust and cobwebs, as though no one had lived there for a very long time.

Outside, a wan ghost moon hung high in the sky, casting down a sinister, eerie shadow.

From the abandoned village came the low growls of beasts, and the atmosphere of terror grew increasingly oppressive.

“Get out of the way!”

Saki Shiratori was still standing there in bewilderment, not knowing how to respond to the horrifying situation, when Su Cheng suddenly roared. Holding his long blade, he charged toward her with murderous intent.

Startled, Saki Shiratori instinctively crouched down. A black shadow pounced forward behind her like a ghost.

In the blink of an eye, a cold flash of blade-light tore through the air and struck the ghostly shadow.

Clang!

The piercing sound of metal striking metal rang out. Su Cheng’s expression changed. His blade had struck the thing as though it were an iron wall, and an extraordinarily powerful force surged back through the weapon.

“This is… a zombie?”

By the dim light, Su Cheng finally saw the black shadow before him.

It was a zombie with a blue-green face and vicious fangs, its entire body radiating a baleful aura.